Pioneering cruiser Willy Ker remembered
Legendary skipper Willy Ker, who sailed his Contessa 32, Assent all over the world from the high Arctic to the Antarctic has died aged 94.
Willy, who joined the Royal Engineers in 1942, learnt to sail after the Second World War. He studied engineering before being posted to Canada to map the west coast. He retired as a major in 1960, settling on a farm in Somerset with wife, Veronica.
Willy bought the 1972 Contessa 32, Assent in 1976. Their partnership lasted until 2011. Initially, he raced Assent, competing in the 1977 Fastnet Race and the 1978 double-handed Round Britain and Ireland Race. His son, Alan, skippered Assent in the 1979 Fastnet, the only Class 5 yacht to finish. But, it was for his cruising exploits that Willy was best known. Having refitted Assent in 1980, he sailed to the Faroe Islands before circumnavigating Iceland in 1983. He went on to sail over 100,000 miles over the next 30 years, cruising the coasts of Greenland, Iceland, Baffin Island, the Falklands, Antartica and Easter Island. A member of the Royal Cruising Club, he earned the Tilman Medal in 1987 for sailing into Grise Fjord, 850 miles from the North Pole. Willy’s last solo voyage on Assent was to Greenland in 2011. At the age of 85, he retired. Assent was put up for sale and returned to boatbuilders Jeremy Rogers Limited, having been bought by Kit and Jessie Rogers.
Paying tribute to Willy, Jessie said: ‘Assent has such an incredible history, including the 1979 Fastnet and the thousands of miles sailed by Willy in the most challenging regions on earth. Assent will always be Willy’s boat and we genuinely feel that his memory is alive in every corner of the boat.’